Updated 1:38 am, Wednesday, May 11, 2011

Kelley, 70, who retired as president and chief executive officer of USAA Real Estate in 2005, currently serves as a real estate consultant with Silver Ventures, developer of the Pearl.

His nomination to the five-member board must be confirmed by the City Council, likely on May 19. He'll replace Charles E. Foster, a former AT&T executive who served for a year, much of that as chairman, before stepping down for health reasons.

Then-Mayor Phil Hardberger tapped Kelley, along with a handful of other civic and business leaders, to sell the city's 2007 bond package, at $550 million, the largest in San Antonio's history. It passed overwhelmingly.

The following year, Hardberger asked Kelley to chair a sustainable building task force, which developed greener building codes in accordance with Mission Verde, the city's sustainability plan.

Kelley was reached at home Tuesday afternoon, working out on his treadmill between meetings. He said he was gratified the trustees have confidence that he'll add value to the board.

“I'm very aware of the impact CPS has on our city,” he said, noting that during his time on the EDF board, many companies that ultimately located in San Antonio — he named Toyota, Washington Mutual and Microsoft — did so in large part because of CPS' inexpensive energy and reputation for strong management.

He said he would likely scale back his involvement in some other boards to spend more time on CPS business, but said he hadn't decided which ones just yet.

Kelley began his career as an economist in training at the Federal Reserve Bank in Dallas, but switched to the business world after earning a master's of business administration.

For nearly a decade before joining USAA, Kelley ran Barshop Enterprises, where he managed a real estate and investment portfolio.

Trustees, who earn an annual stipend of $2,000, set policy for CPS, which is owned by the city but operates largely independently. It returns up to 14 percent of its gross revenue to the city annually.